


When It Rains It Pours

by Punrise



Category: IT (2017), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, Blood, Canon deaths, Eddie is blond, Grief/Mourning, Mentions of Suicide, Multi, because I say so
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-17
Updated: 2018-08-17
Packaged: 2019-06-28 22:44:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,155
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15716610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Punrise/pseuds/Punrise
Summary: It was going to die. Richie just didn’t know that Eddie was going to die with It.You only start to see colour when you meet your soulmate. As Eddie lays dying and Richie begins to lose his colours he starts to reflect on their life together from the moment that he starts to see colour to the moment that he stops.





	When It Rains It Pours

**Author's Note:**

> So the timelines are changed a little -- they fight It for the first time at fourteen and then they fight It again at around 27.

Richie has always claimed that his fourteen birthday was the best day of his life. It was on that day, in the middle of a packed Walmart that Edward Kaspbrak had, unwittingly, given him the best birthday gift he could ever received. It wasn’t one that he’d asked for, but it was one that he appreciated and treasured for the rest of his life.

///

_Nature has decided to celebrate Richie Tozier turning fourteen with a heavy downpour of rain and he’s not too happy about it._

_He sits at the breakfast table in his pyjamas, chin resting on his hands as he stares out of the kitchen window with a small frown. His eyes follow a pair of raindrops that he’s decided are in a race as they slip down the glass. It’s something he used to do as a little kid and he lets himself return to that state of childlike joy as the raindrop he’d backed from the beginning slides to victory, cheers echoing in his mind._

_“Looks like we’re going to have to reschedule your birthday party,” his dad says, peering over the top of his newspaper. “I know you were really looking forward to it. I’m sorry.”_

_“It’s not your fault that Mother Nature hates me,” Richie mumbles with a shrug. He’s a little disappointed but he can’t be angry at his parents over it; there’s no way it’s their doing. “Can we have it next Sunday so Ben can come? He’s going to visit his aunt on Monday and he’ll be gone for a whole week.”_

_“I’m not promising anything,” his dad shrugs. “But we’ll see. Your mom and I will have to talk about it tonight and see what days your grandma can do. You know that she’ll be upset if she can’t come.”_

_“So will Ben.”_

_“Rich, you see your grandma twice a year. On your birthday and Christmas,” Went sighs, putting down his paper. “If she can’t do next Sunday then we’re not having it next Sunday even if that’s the only day Ben can do. You see him almost every day, it’s not that big of a deal if he can’t come.”_

_Richie pouts but he doesn’t bother arguing. His dad’s right; he doesn’t see his grandma nearly as often as he sees Ben but that doesn’t mean that he enjoys it when she visits. She’s constantly picking at him and whether it’s about his style or his posture or his average grades depends on her moods. He doesn’t think that she intends her comments to be as hurtful as they are but there’s only so many times he can take her calling him lazy before he finally snaps back._

_“Well, it doesn’t mean that we can’t have a good day,” his mom says, placing a plate of warm chocolate chip pancakes in front of him. “We’ll pick up your cake once we’re done with breakfast and your dad and I have a few presents for you.”_

_He doesn’t know it at that point but the presents his parents give him pale in comparison to the one he receives from a total stranger._

_—_

_Everyone and their dog had decided to go to Walmart that morning it seemed. Richie trails after his parents, hands in his pockets as they push through the congested aisles. He convinces his mom to let him put a family bag of Doritos in the trolley since it’s his special day and it’s when he’s deciding what flavour Oreos that he wants that he loses them. They’re there one minute and the next they’re gone, swallowed by the crowds of other shoppers._

_He panics, shoving back the packet of double stuffed Oreos that he’d been looking at and starts up the aisle calling out for his mom. He might be fourteen but he hates being lost, especially in the middle of a supermarket that’s absurdly busy. He’s halfway up the aisle when he brushes shoulders with another kid his age and pain flares across his face, stopping him dead in his tracks with a yelp. He closes his eyes against the lights that have become so much brighter in the last few seconds and when he opens them again, everything is different._

_No longer does he see only black, white or various shades of grey. Everything has colour, vibrant and exciting and whilst he doesn’t know what colour is what besides the ones he’s been seeing all of his life they’re all so beautiful._

_He turns to the boy he’d brushed shoulders with who stares at him with wide eyes and a slightly agape mouth. The boy is clutching his mom’s hand although when he meets Richie’s gaze he lets go of it and crosses the aisle so that he’s stood in front of Richie. It’s annoying for those around them, but neither of them care at the moment._

_“You’re my soulmate,” the boy murmurs, holding out his hand. “I-I can’t believe it.”_

_“Yeah me neither,” Richie laughs, eyeing the aspirator poking out the top of the boy’s pocket next to something that looked like a bottle of hand sanitiser. Because of course Richie got matched with a clean freak; it’s just his luck. “I’m Richie Tozier. It’s nice to meet you I guess.”_

_“Eddie Kaspbrak,” the boy, Eddie, says, holding out his hand to Richie. “You can see it all too, right? The colours?”_

_“Of course I can,” Richie shakes his hand and tries not to feel offended when Eddie pulls out the bottle of hand sanitiser afterwards. “I didn’t expect this to happen for years,” his parents hadn’t met until their early twenties and it was the same for most people. “It’s my fourteenth birthday.”_

_“Happy birthday,” Eddie smiles and Richie almost melts. A blush creeps into his cheeks and he hopes that Eddie doesn’t notice. If he does, he doesn’t say anything. “I’m fourteen soon, too,” he turns his head towards his mom. “I didn’t think it was ever going to happen. My mom never met her soulmate. I thought I was going to be the same.”_

_“What about your dad?” Richie frowns._

_“They were in love but they weren’t soulmates,” Eddie says with a small shrug. “He uh, he died when I was five so I don’t really remember him much.”_

_“Oh I’m sorry,” Richie says awkwardly. “Um, do you want to come to my birthday party?” the words tumble out before he can stop them and Eddie blinks in surprise. “We had to cancel it today because of the rain but we’re going to reschedule it to some time soon. If you give me your number I can text you the details when we sort it all out?”_

_“Sure.”_

_Richie leaves the supermarket half an hour later grinning from ear to ear as he tells his parents all about it. They’re more excited than he is, honestly, and he spends the rest of the day marvelling at everything and pestering his mom and dad to teach him all of the colours._

_He has brown hair. Eddie’s in blond. They both have brown eyes._

///

“Eddie!” Richie screeches as he sprints across the room to where his husband has slumped to the floor. Richie tries not to look at the arm laying in a puddle of grimy water a few steps away. He pulls his husband into his arms, stroking a thumb over Eddie’s cheek as Bev hurriedly tries to fashion a tourniquet to tie around the profusely bleeding stump. “Don’t do this to me Eds. Please!”

///

  
_Eddie doesn’t turn up to Richie’s birthday party. He doesn’t answer Richie’s texts when he asks if he’d like to hang out and his unanswered calls are never returned. Nine months later Richie’s calls and texts stop going through. Eddie’s blocked his number. Richie cries to his parents that night and falls asleep with bloodshot eyes and stinging cheeks._

_He's at Memorial Park with the other Losers, his head in Bev's lap as he lays across the bench the two of them had claimed with the other Losers sitting on the floor around them. They'd had a great afternoon down in the Barrens and now they just wanted to chill before having to go home. Bev was playing with Richie's hair and he was desperately trying not to fall asleep._

_"Do you think the Bowers'gang will ever find our clubhouse?" Stan asks. They'd spent almost the entire time down in the Barrens working on it and it was coming along nicely._  
  
_"No," Bev shakes her head. "That's why we made it underground. So that they wouldn't be able to find it — they're too dumb to even think about clubhouses being underground. To be fair, I was before Ben suggested it."_

_Richie turns his head towards Ben who's cheeks are flushing bright red. It's nice to be able to see it properly now, instead of just seeing a slight shift in the tones of grey. He envies Bev and Ben who had met, and been introduced to colour, in kindergarten. Mike and Stan had met in fifth grade and so Richie had been the last in the Losers' Club to gain his coloured vision. His mom had always remarked that the group of them were extremely lucky because a lot of people didn't gain their colour until a lot later on._

_"No, Bill!" Richie sits up as a familiar voice rings out. "Skateboarding is insanely dangerous if you're not wearing a helm— stop it Bill! Just put it on for God's sake!"_

_There, running after a tall boy on a skateboard, is Eddie._

_"Guys, that's him!" Richie whisper shouts, nodding towards him. "That's Eddie!"_

_"Go!" Bev shoos his off of the bench and Richie nods, swallowing down a lump in his throat as he crosses the park. Anger is hot in the bottom of his stomach, but he tries to ignore it. What Eddie has done is shitty, but there's probably a reason for it._

_"Eddie Spaghetti!" Richie says, once he's close enough to be heard. Eddie whirls around, a surprised look on his face. "It's so nice to see you again."_

_"Look, I can explain," Eddie holds up his free hand in a mock surrender. The other boy, Bill, who Richie recognises from school, is staring at him with a small smile on his face. "I did want to come to your party and all but my mom's not too happy with... well, you being a-a..." he trails off but Bill cuts in and finishes the sentence for him._

_"A b-b-boy," he says, his eyebrows slightly raised as he looks down at Eddie. "S-s-s-she's a m-massive homophobe."_

_“Oh,” Richie shifts from foot to foot awkwardly. “Well you could have at least told me that over text or something. Honestly, just cutting me off like that was a dick move, Eds.”_

_“Don’t call me that,” Eddie frowns. “And I couldn’t. Mom, uh, she checks my phone quite a lot so I would’ve gotten in trouble. I’m sorry, really. Look, I’m joining public school this year. Bill and I managed to convince mom to let me go. We’ll see each other every day.”_

_“You can join our club,” Richie grins, the anger he had felt earlier dissipating. He turns around, gesturing to his friends who wave to him. “It’s called the Losers’ Club but we’re not really losers. We’re alright people I think.”_

_Eddie shares a glance with Bill who gives him a small nod. “Okay. The Losers’ Club. We’re in.”_

_Richie has another chance._

///

Bev’s managed to slow the bleeding. She’s screaming for help but Richie knows well enough that nobody is going to hear them from down in the sewers and the others are too busy trying to fight and kill It.

“Bev, my colours are…” Richie sobs as he looks down at Eddie’s face. Everything is paler now. Eddie’s blond hair is becoming a light grey. “No. Eddie, no, no, no! Eddie!”

///

_It’s later that summer that they first defeat It._

_It brings the Losers together, the group of them becoming closer than they could have ever imagined. They get justice for little Georgie Denbrough. Or so they think._

_Richie still remembers the sense of joy and relief he felt when the sun hits his face as they emerge from the sewers filthy and exhausted but alive. They scrub themselves clean in the Kenduskeag and then run to the underground clubhouse where they had each stashed an outfit to change into. They sit in the darkness of the clubhouse that afternoon, not speaking and not needing to, just listening to the sounds of the other’s breathing._

_They leave that evening with hugs and a promise. A promise that if It comes back then they’ll drop everything to fight It again._

_Eddie and Richie head back to Richie’s house that night. They stuff themselves silly with food and lie awake until the early hours, their hearts still racing and adrenaline pumping through their veins. Once they finally fall asleep the both of them are plagued by nightmares and when they both wake up screaming a couple of hours later, Maggie and Went calm them down but they don’t pry._

///

Richie clings onto his husband, alarm shooting through him when he realises how much his world has dulled. He sobs, running his thumb softly over Eddie’s pale cheek. He watches as the love of his life struggles for breath, the dark blue of his shirt now a rapidly darkening grey.

It’s cruel, Richie thinks, how he’s being robbed of two things all at once. How, if he wasn’t here, if he was back at home and Eddie had gone off without him, all he would be able to do was watch as the colour around him faded away.

But he’s here. He’s here, goddammit and he’s going to make sure that Eddie knows it.

“I love you, Eds,” he says. “I love you so much.”

///

_Eddie and Richie don’t actually start dating until they’re sixteen._

_They tell Richie’s parents almost straight away. Mrs. Kaspbrak doesn’t find out until years later._

_They spend their afternoons after school has let out either in the barrens with their friends in their still used underground clubhouse, or in the local cafes, sharing milkshakes and slices of cake as they talk about their days. Eddie spends a lot of time at Richie’s house, away from his judgemental and controlling mom. Richie’s mom takes him under her wing and Richie often jokes that she likes him more than her own son._

_When Eddie joins the theatre society and gets cast in the play, the Toziers turn up in full support and cheer loudly as he takes his bow. The following year, when Eddie is cast as the lead, Richie sits in the audience grinning from ear to ear the entire time. He’s so lucky that he ended up with an insanely talented and adorable soulmate. He didn’t know what he would do if his soulmate was anything like Sonia Kaspbrak._

_Eddie moves into Richie’s house in their last year of high school. He came over after a particularly bad fight with his mom that was to do with his medicine and never went back home. Maggie and Went absolutely adored him and Richie knew how much their support meant to his boyfriend. He comes to family events with them, receives birthday cards from Richie’s relatives and quickly becomes the favourite of his child cousins when they find out that Eddie is amazing at playing the cheap plastic kazoos you get from Christmas crackers._

_So, at twenty-five when Richie announces that he and Eddie are getting married, no one is really surprised. It’s about time, they all say, Eddie is finally becoming part of the family for real._

///

“Eds—”

“Don’t call me that…” Eddie whispers through lips speckled with blood. “You know I… I hate being…”

“I know, baby, I know I’m sorry,” Richie lowers his voice, tears dribbling down his cheeks as he strokes Eddie’s cheek. He glances towards Bill, who is still completing the Ritual of Chud. Richie hopes that It is suffering for what’s happening to his Eddie. “I’m sorry, Eddie. Everything’s going to be okay, I promise. We’ll get you out of here.”

He glances up at Bev who’s on her knees beside Eddie, a hand on the dying man’s shoulder. Tears streak through the grime on her face and she gives a small shake of her head when Richie meets her watery gaze. Eddie isn’t going to make it and they both know it.

///

_They’re living in New York when they get the call._

_Mike and Stan are the only one who stayed in Derry but Mike is the one to alert them of It’s reappearance. Richie pales at the call, but as soon as he hangs up he books his and Eddie’s flights. Eddie calls him five minutes later, crying and on the cusp of an asthma attack and Richie has to calm his down as best as he can whilst trying to find his car keys._

_He drives to Eddie’s work and picks him up. They sit in the car park for a long while, silently contemplating what this all means. They’re going back to Derry because they failed the first time. It’s rough and Richie lays awake that night, gaze fixed on the ceiling. He could’ve sworn that they’d killed It that day or was that just what they had wanted to believe?_

_He supposes it doesn’t matter: It is back somehow and they need to put a stop to It this time. This time It’ll die._

—

_Stan becomes the first casualty of It._

_They’re told of his death whilst at lunch at the Orient. Richie feels as if he’s been punched in the stomach when Mike tells them, his voice wobbling as he tries to stay strong. Richie’s eyes well up with tears and Eddie leans into him, tears streaming down his own cheeks. There’s a stunned silence that settle over them._

_“Did you know as soon as it happened?” Bev sniffs, wiping her cheeks with her sleeve and ignoring the bit of makeup that comes of as she does._

_“The very moment,” Mike nods. “Everything just went black and white and I just… I knew.”_

_“I’m so sorry, Mike,” Bill says. He’s not crying, but his eyebrows are furrowed and he moves closer to Mike and wraps an arm around his shoulder. “Let’s go and kill this fucker. For Stan, for Georgie and for all the other kids of Derry that have fallen victim to It.”_

_The Losers leave the Orient later that afternoon with a renewed strength and a shared anger; It robbed Stan’s life and they were going to return the favour. This time there would be no getting away from them, no returning years later. It was going to die. Richie just didn’t know that Eddie was going to die with It._

///

Eddie dies in Richie’s arms only a minute or two later.

Richie cries, leaning on Bev in support who holds him tight and cries into his curls. He screws his eyes shut, not wanting to see the monotony of the world that only a few minutes ago was bright and teeming with colours (well, maybe not in the sewers). He doesn’t want to look at his husband, his eyes still open and his skin almost paper white. He doesn’t want to see Eddie’s blood, not a vibrant red anymore but an almost black colour.

He’s been robbed of two things at once and it hurts so much that he can barely breathe. It’s Bill’s cry of pain that forces him to face reality and open his eyes.  
Richie gets to his feet and charges forward with no thought. He doesn’t care anymore; It killed his Eddie and It has to pay.

This is for Eddie. For Stan. For Georgie. For the kids of Derry.

For Richie himself.

—

It is really dead this time. So is all of It’s spawn that Ben methodically killed.

The trio stumble out of the pipe into the wide room where Bev waits, cradling Eddie’s head in her lap. The ensuing argument is quick; they’re not leaving his body there. There’s no way in hell that Richie will ever let that happen. It’s easy enough to ignore the loss of his colour down in the sewers — everything, besides the Losers, had been almost the same colour anyway; the rusty pipes and the grey water.

It’s a struggle to get both Eddie and Audra’s limp bodies out of the sewers but they manage it between them. As they emerge into the ruined street, Richie clings tightly to his soulmate just like Bill does to his and he screws his eyes shut again because when he does he can imagine everything in his head with colours and if not for Eddie’s weight in his arms, it’s like nothing happened.

Bev makes him hand over the body to the paramedics that were called to help them. He sits in the back of the ambulance he’s escorted to with his eyes still shut. He refuses to open them when asked, his breath hitching in his chest as he’s asked whether Eddie was his soulmate. He nods a quick yes and the paramedic doesn’t ask him again.

Bev and Ben take him back to their hotel room once he’s given the all clear. He lays in their bed, eyes open and staring at the colourless ceiling. He hears their quiet discussions, knows that they’re holding back from showing their affection around him. They force him to eat, force him to drink and cancel their flights back home to take care of him for a little while more.

—

They have a joint service for Stan and Eddie. Bill, Bev and Ben had taken care of the arrangements. Mike and Richie had spent most of the time in Mike’s living room, curled up on opposite ends of the sofa. They understood each other on another level now, something that the others couldn’t connect with just yet and Richie wished they never had to.

Richie can barely stand at the funeral, leaning on Bill for support. Mike clutches Richie’s hand as the coffins are lowered into the ground. Richie finds the worst part of it all to be how he can’t tell the colour of the flowers, or the chairs, or the linings of the coffins. He’s assured that Eddie’s is a dark blue, his favourite colour, but how can Richie know that it truly is? How does he know that Ben isn’t lying to him?

Later, he’ll apologise to Ben for that. He knows that the other Losers are finding this hard too; he and Mike aren’t the only ones who love Eddie and they’re not the only ones who have lost their soulmate. Bill has too — sure, Audra’s not technically dead but she wasn’t well and although Bill hides it very well, it’s evident that he’s struggling.

He had mentions one morning over breakfast that his colours had dulled now that Audra was catatonic, but they weren’t fully gone. It was a good sign, apparently, that she might make an eventual recovery. Richie had started sobbing at that, reminded of how everything had started fading around him as he held Eddie in his arms. He had known that Eddie wouldn’t make a recovery and Mike had known the same with Stan. He can’t help but feel a tiny bit of resentment towards Bill but moreso towards Bev and Ben who’s relationship had been the only one unscathed but It.

—

Richie struggles with the loss of Eddie for the rest of his life but it’s something that he manages to eventually come to terms with.

Audra makes a recovery. Richie moves in with Mike. Ben and Bev fly home and two days later so do Bill and Audra. Life moves on.

There are nights when he wakes up in a cold sweat, shoulder throbbing after he dreams that it was him instead of Eddie. There are days when he refuses to wear his contact because he prefers everything blurry. It’s not as much of a stark reminder. On the really really bad days he’ll shut himself away in his room with his covers pulled over his head and eyes screwed shut because everything is grey and everything reminds him of Eddie and he just can’t take it.

There are days that he and Mike sit on the sofa together and cry. There are days that they visit the graves and lay bouquets of flowers, that they are assured look beautiful, against the headstones.

Richie dreams of Eddie most nights. It’s what gets him through the hard days; he may have lost his colours whilst he’s awake but he can always count on them to be there in his dreams. He sees Eddie’s brown eyes and his blond hair and the subtle blush on his cheeks.

That’s all he needs.

**Author's Note:**

> [tumblr](http://pun-rise.tumblr.com)


End file.
